Vegetable Disease Briefs – 6/28/15

Phytophthora blight on pepper and cucurbit crops have been reported. The heavy rains that have been around lately have been ideal for P. capsici development. All growers need to scout on a regular basis and applied preventative fungicides on a regular basis as well as remain proactive by removing infected plants from field, making sure water is able to drain away from beds/fields, and cutting plastic to help dry out beds.

A new, more aggressive form of Black leg has been reported in potato in southern New Jersey.

Bacterial leaf spot is being reported on pepper and tomato.

Basil downy mildew remains active. All basil growers should continue to scout and be proactive.

Late blight has been reported on potato as far north as North Carolina near the Virginia border. There have been no reports of late blight in the region to date. To track late blight in the US please visit http://usablight.org/

Cucurbit downy mildew has been reported on cucumber, butternut, acorn, and yellow summer squash as far north as central South Carolina and was reported on cucumber in Michigan this past week. To track the progress of CDM in the US please visit http://cdm.ipmpipe.org/. Fungicide maintenance programs should focus on cucurbit powdery mildew control until CDM is reported in the region.